Sanitary belt



Jan. 23, 1951 sp s k 2,539,338

SANITARY BELT Filed May 3, 1948 INVENTOR.

k/l/A 5 0 ma/f BY Patented Jan. 23, 1 951 UNITED STATES. PATENT OFFICE SANITARY BELT- Julia M. Spisak, Cleveland, Ohio Application M ya, 1948, Serial No. 24,719

. l This invention relates to catamenial supporters commonly known as sanitary belts.

.1, Claim. (01.128-191) One well known form of sanitary belt comprises a band-like belt proper for encircling the waist of the wearer; and tabs or hangers depending.

therefrom at diametrically opposite points of the belt, provided with mechanical attaching devices, to be attached to the fabric of a catamenial pad holder at the opposite ends of the pad.

The present invention relates tothis class of device.

Among the desirable properties of such a device are that the said attaching devicesshall take firm holdupon the pad holder fabric; and without liability of letting go, or slipp and that they shall be easy and convenient to operate, both to attach and detach a pad holder thereto; and shall be constructed to admit readily of adjustment of the fabric therein to adjust the fit of the pad; and shall lie flat upon the person of the wearer.

Prior devices of this class have not fulfilled all of these requirements to the entire satisfaction of the wearer; and have been objectionable for that and other reasons; and it is the object of this invention to provide a device that will fulfil these requirements and obviate these various objections.

The invention itself is set forth in the appended described in the following description and illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of the invention with pairs of hangers depending therefrom, one hanger of each pair folded back to disclose the other;

Fig, 2 is a front elevational view of a fragment of the belt and one end of a catamenial pad and holder secured thereto as in the operation of the invention.

Referring to the drawing, there is shown at I a belt for encircling and embracing the waist of the wearer of the device. The belt is preferably an endless belt of ribbon-like or tape-like material and it is contemplated that it will be manufactured in a number of sizes so asto fit all wearers without adjustment and to this end is preferably made of elasticized fabric; but if desired it may be provided with a buckle, slide, or other well known take up device not shown to change its length.

At opposite points on the belt are pairs of depending hangers 2-3 and 4-5. These may be formed from tape-like fabric or flexible plastic, etc, and attached to the belt I in various ways and may be elastic if practice is totake a length of tape and bend it transversely in the middle to provide two legs and straddle these legs over the belt; the two legs constituting the hangers for example the hangersl-a', and the middle bend being at 6 at the top edge I of the belt.

The two legs are then sewed to the belt I as indicated by stitching 8.

The hangers 23 thus are hinged to the belt i,'and when the hangers, as normally, depend fromjthe belt their inner faces are confronting. Mounted on their confronting faces are the male 2' and I 4 have elements adapted to go through fabric and secure them thereto, Fig. 2 showing at Ti 15 on the back side of the hanger 2 an element of the part I 0 by which it is attached to the hanger, as illustrative of such elements.

Preferably before the parts 9-H! are secured to the hangers 23, the hangers at their lower ends are doubled back as at IS-I'I providing a double thickness of the hanger material at I8-I El to which the parts 9I0 are secured.

Also, as is evident in the drawing, the folds at 6-41 are spaced downwardly from the parts 9-48 so that the hangers as a whole extend beyond the parts 9-I0, in tabs or ears 2G-2I,

I'long enough to be gripped by the thumb and finger of the user for a purpose to be described.

In the ordinary use of such snappers the parts 5-40 would be mounted on two parts of a garment, the prong II of part 9 would be presented to the receptacle I3 of part I 0 and then the parts 9I0 would be pressed together and the prong would enter the receptacle and be resiliently locked therein by means in the part It; and the confronting surfaces 22-23 on the parts would be pressure engaged with each other by the resilient locking means; and the purpose would be to detachably secure the two parts of the garment together.

In the present invention, the two metal parts 9ID of the snapper are similarly operated; and it is true that the two hangers (corresponding to the aforesaid two parts of a garment) are thereby secured together; but that is merely incidental to the main purpose of the snapper, which is to mount on or secure to the hangers, a third part.

desired. The preferred 2 therebetween, which in the present invention is, specifically, the holder of a catamenial pad.

In Fig. 2 is shown at 24 a fragment of a pad, Wrapped in a mesh fabric holder 25, in what will be recognized as a commercial form. The holder 25 is generally of flattened tube form, and projects for a considerable length beyond the pad as at '26. It is the holder portion 26 by which the manufacturer intends the pad to be secured to a sanitary belt, whatever its construction may be.

In the practice of the present invention, the portion 26 is preferably folded over as at 21 to provide a double thickness portion as at 28. The holder portion 28 is then inserted between the hangers 2-3 when in their separated condition as in Fig. 1. Then the snapper parts 9-48 which are now on opposite sides of the holder-portion 28, are pressed together in the usual manner.

This causes the male prong I I to pass through the open mesh of the holder portion 28 and enter the receptacle !3, or in some cases, to carry the mesh along with it into the receptacle; but in either event, the light weight thin open fabric of the holder portion 28 does not interfere with the operation of the snapper, and the two parts tie-l lock together with the holder portion 28 therebetween; and as an important feature of the operation the holder portion 28 is pinched or gripped between the pressure surfaces 22-43 of the snapper parts as referred to.

The pad holder is thus firmly secured to and between the hangers 2--3 as indicated in Fig. 2.

The hangers 2-3 and 45 being made of flexible relatively narrow tape, and connected to the belt I, the hangers do not extend longitudinally along the belt more than the width of the tape, and therefore as is apparent can bend in the direction longitudinally of the belt. The hangers therefore have a universal hinging connection with the belt; with the-advantage that in making the device and attaching the hangers to the belt, it is unnecessary to exercise care to insure that the two parts l ii of re snapper device will be in alignment, because the said universal hinging movement will permit them to come into alignment and to engage the lock with each other when put to the described use.

When it is desired to reverse the operation and detach the pad holder from the hangers 23, the hangers are pulled apart to separate the snapper. This may he done quickly and conveniently by the user upon seizing the tabs or ears 2B2l. and. pulling oppositely on them, this being the purpose referred to for which they are provided.

The construction and mode of operation of the snapper parts 9-40 on the other two hangers 4-5, is preferably the same as described for the hangers 2-3, and need not be repeated, it being understood of course that the opposite end of the pad holder 25 is secured thereto.

To fit the pad and pad holder, comfortably to the user, the holder portion 28 at one or both ends of the pad holder may be lengthened or shortened by folding overmore. or less at 27; or it may be inserted a greater or lesser distance inwardly between the hangers.

I claim:

A sanitary belt device of the class described comprising a belt proper in the form of an endless closed loop of elastic ribbon like material of uniform width throughout; separate lengths of fiat ribbon like material bent in the middle and straddled over the top edge of the belt and secured to the belt at diametrically opposite points, and the end portions thereof depending from the lower edge of the beltand constituting a pair of pad grippinghangers; the lower ends of the hangers being folded over upwardly to provide double thickness portions and lowermost rounded exposed end edges, and disposing the actual raw ends of the ribbon like hanger material adjacent to the. belt and between the hangers; a two-part separable snap-fastener having its parts each secured to one of the respective double thickness portions and constituting the sole means for maintaining them folded together; the hanger material being flexible and bendable fiatwise andedgewise and thereby providing universal hinging movement for the hangers relative to the belt, whereby the two parts of the fastener may be readily aligned for fastening them together; the double thickness portions extending far enough beyond the fastener parts to provide free grip portions that may be-securely seized between the thumb and finger of the user-for pulling on the hangers to pull the fastener apart.

JULIA M. SPISAK.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,646,880 Schaffer Oct. 25, 1927 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 629,549 France Aug. 1, 1927 

